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Big White - Canada, brief review Dec 2006

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just got back from a 2 week trip to Big White, interior BC, Canada. Not many Brits seem to go there, so thought I'd add a brief review for anyone interested in a change from the more popular Canadian resorts.

Skiing:
Ok, so it hasn't got the vertical of Whistler or Lake Louise and on paper looks a bit tame for experts. However, it does have fantastic glade skiing and the off-piste powder is very easily accessible. It's paradise for intermediates and anyone looking to improve their powder skiing. For those looking for a challenge, the Cliff area is seriously steep but relatively small. I'm a strong experienced skier and found the skiing pretty easy going, but very enjoyable. A foot of fresh powder on the pistes and fresh tracks for at least 3 or 4 runs in the morning is always going to be good. It's also a great place to safely explore off-piste, while staying well within bounds. Whichever way you head down through the trees, you always end up back at a convenient base lift.

There are well over a 100 marked pistes, mostly blue (easy red in Europe), with the usual easy green from the top of every major lift, which seems to be the norm in North America. My wife is an intermediate on her third ski holiday, so this worked really well. She could gain confidence skiing the blues, while I dived in and out of the trees between pistes.

Lifts:
Half a dozen or so high speed quads, a brand new high speed six-pack, several more slower chairs and a T-bar. There's also a gondola connecting the upper and lower parts of the village. Overall, a pretty modern and efficient lift system. No complaints here. Lift queues are non-existent except at absolute peak times i.e Christmas holidays. Even then the very longest we had to wait was 10 mins.

Village:
Purpose built on the lower slopes, so you can ski straight through the main pedestrianised street. Not much in the way of shops, but a single well stocked ski shop in the village centre. Reasonable choice of bars and restaurants. Generally good food and snacks at sensible prices. It's a pretty quiet family atmosphere in general, although Snowshoe Sam's bar is pretty lively. We're not big into apres ski nightlife (we have that well covered in the UK) but like to go out for a nice meal, which was easy to find. Plenty of activities for kids eg tubing, ice skating etc.

Snow:
Pretty damn good. The light, dry champagne powder was falling regularly, with a solid base of around 1.5 metres and climbing. Not bad at all for late December. One of the reasons I like going to Canada early season. We had 2 memorable full-on powder days, quite a few sunny blue ski days and only 1 white-out. Temperatures varying from around -2 to -15 deg C. On-piste conditions were generally excellent, although there were a few isolated rocks poking through in places. No ice at all, snow preservation is superb. No need for snowmaking.

Scenery:
Beautiful. Not your typical alpine stunning rocky mountain views. Think more along the lines of rolling gladed mountains and valleys, stretching as far as the eye can see from horizon to horizon. You also get "snow ghosts" on the upper slopes, which are trees totally encased in solid snow. Pretty cool I thought.

Accommodation:
Stayed the first week at the "Sundance" hotel and then moved to "The Inn at BW" hotel for the second week. The reason for the change of hotel was the extortionate Christmas holiday rates at Sundance after 24th Dec. Sundance was nicer, almost brand new with superb mountain views. The Inn was ok too, just a little more basic. Both had excellent ski in/out access, which is a feature of pretty much all Big White accommodation. There's a huge choice of luxury condos and chalets too if you need more space.

Travel:
Air Canada scheduled flight to Vancouver, followed by a 1 hour internal flight to Kelowna and a final 50 min drive to Big White. Pretty painless for any reasonably experienced traveller. No problems or surcharges with ski carriage etc.

Conclusion:
I'd say it ranks among the very best resorts I've visited (and I've been to many places, big and small, on both sides of the pond). I've always liked the idea of skiing in interior BC, away from the big package holiday crowds you tend to get in places like Whistler. Having finally got round to it I wasn't disappointed. Big White still has a small town feel, although it's actually expanding into quite a major resort. I suspect the crowds will be along in the not too distant future, so go now before they arrive!
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uktrailmonster, Great Post, Big White sounds great, and the conditions sound brilliant to, i am going over the pond, for the first time to Whistler Sad suppose its everyone to there own, how long was the flight over to Vancouver? were did you fly from Puzzled
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Great post! I'm a fan of Big White having been there for the first time last year - and going back again in March, combined with a trip to Sun Peaks (about 3 hours away by connecting minibus shuttle). A few others here are regulars as well. You can fly either to Calgary or Edmonton as well as Vancouver before getting the internal flight to Kelowna and this year we're going via Edmonton as the Vancouver flight was full - which actually means we get into BW a few hours earlier (I think less time between connection.) Did your skis make it with you on the internal plane?

Good long swooping runs over on the Gem Lake area, nice glade skiing in the Black Forest area.

Flight to Vancouver about 9 1/2 hours if I remember correctly.
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Don't worry Liam, Whistler is pretty damn good too!! You'll love it there. It can get a little crowded at times, but still much better than the big European resorts. The skiing can be awesome. I flew from Heathrow to Vancouver, something like 9 hours. Transfer to Whistler from Vancouver is a couple of hours or so.
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cathy, yes my skis made it ok. I only checked them in as far as Vancouver and then re-checked them onto the Kelowna flight. I came back via Calgary and did the same thing i.e re-checked my baggage in Calgary. You can usually check them all the way through to your final destination, which is convenient, but more prone to a no-show. Less important on the way home though!

Be careful with short connection times. I fly a lot and experience has taught me that 2 hours is the minimum to avoid risking missing the connection. Especially going home, where you're on an international connection. You really want 3 hours to be really safe. It sounds a long time, but a small flight delay, long security queues and slow baggage handling can soon eat it up. Short connections also make it more likely for your luggage to miss the connection even if you don't.

I'm off back there in March too and hope to explore the Gem Lake area more. It needed a slightly deeper base over there to fully cover the rocks. The Black Forest area seemed better early season, so we spent most of the time there.
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uktrailmonster, we'll maybe see you there then! We fly out 10 March and have a week there before going on to Sun Peaks.

Just checked my flight details and it is a 3 hour connection time at Edmonton, so should be OK there. Due to arrive 5.45 pm at Kelowna, its probably an earlier departure time from Heathrow.

Only asked about your skis as they quite often don't make it on the small internal flight - its probably worse in the busier ski season than when you were there. Coming home we were sat on the plane - saw the trolley with our skis on drive up to the plane and then saw it drive away again with our skis still on. But they came back on the next flight and then couriered home so it was fine. And a few people's skis didn't make it on the plane going there, but they turned up at the hotel the next morning.

We're staying at the White Crystal Inn which is very convenient right next to the Village Centre Mall, rooms are fine and has a nice resturant/bar.

Gem Lake is good, steeper runs and longer. But the Black Forest is nice and definitely the place to go when there's a white-out. The night skiing is also good and they have it every evening - a long run down whose name I can't remember! Did they have night skiing when you were there or was it too early?

The thought of the snow at Big White is the only thing that's getting me through the prospect of a lack of snow in Kitzbuhel - our next trip! Toofy Grin
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cathy, We're planning to go back out there on the 4th March for another 2 weeks, so perhaps we can meet up sometime. The White Crystal Inn looks nicer than the BW Inn, but we couldn't get in there over Christmas. We ate in the restaurant and bar quite a few times though. Very nice.

Night skiing was up and running while we were there, but we were getting enough skiing done during the day to take advantage of it!

Strangely enough I had the worst skiing of my life in Kitzbuhel many years ago (just from lack of snow)! Quite different from BW in just about every way imaginable. It was that experience that first started me looking at North American resorts. Anyway hope you have better luck on your visit.
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uktrailmonster wrote:
cathy, We're planning to go back out there on the 4th March for another 2 weeks, so perhaps we can meet up sometime.

That would be good! We'll arrange nearer the time & I can give you my mobile number. I think riverwhy is also out there then.
Quote:
Night skiing was up and running while we were there, but we were getting enough skiing done during the day to take advantage of it!

Me too! I only did it once but my OH really enjoyed it & did it quite a few times
Quote:
Strangely enough I had the worst skiing of my life in Kitzbuhel many years ago (just from lack of snow)! Quite different from BW in just about every way imaginable. It was that experience that first started me looking at North American resorts. Anyway hope you have better luck on your visit.

Yeah - thanks!! rolling eyes It's the thought of the snow at Big White that's getting me through this dry spot! snowHead
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uktrailmonster, Yeah thats cool, i understand what you mean, each resort has its own attraction i suppose, im flying from Manchester so i dont no whether that will make much difference, im staying in Vancouver for 3 nights to sort of split up the travelling then an early morning coach over to Whistler, im not staying in the village, im staying at Creekside, which ive heard is a little quieter Puzzled and where the locals head out from in the morning.
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Someone was asking me previously about Big White & I said I'd dig some photos out so this seems like a good opportunity

Night skiing


skiing through the glades


resort centre & high street/piste


Village Centre Mall (VCM) where you can grab a drink/snack, book lessons, buy your lift pass etc. The hub Very Happy


snow ghost
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UKtrailmonster, glad you liked Big White.

We've been going there (and other Okanagan resorts) at least once every year since 2000, and over time there have certainly been some major changes. That said, they've kept up with the increasing crowds and expanded the runs and lifts to cope admirably.

The Gem Lake area feels much more remote that anywhere else - even the Cliff - and the runs as Cathy says are far longer. It's also good to try to hook up with some of the locals: they know the mountain so well you'll get to places you'd never find on your own. I especially remember one day with Norman: started off suggesting a little diversion and waiting for me to agree - after a few runs he obviously decided I was game for anything and would just announce: "let's have a look down here then....". I was gasping for mercy by midday.

Unfortunatly though we won't be there this year: No2 child is due right in the middle of the ski season - cr*p planning or what?
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RobW, how do you rate Big White compared to Silver Star and Sun Peaks? They're both high on my hitlist of places to visit in the near future.
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uktrailmonster, we didn't get to Silver Star last year but hope to go for the day this year. I know RobW rates it highly.

Sun Peaks is nice, well worth a visit but I preferred Big White. Sun Peaks has a road splitting the ski areas in half and not all the places are ski in/out - Big White has much more of a villagey feel. I don't like the fake Tyrolean streets in SP. The skiing is good and varied though - and the Austrian Ski Team have it as their home for training for the 2010 Olympics so can't be all bad. Nancy Greene is also very much in evidence there and you can go out skiing with her. We're going back again this year, as I said above, combined with Big White.
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Another big fan here, we've been to Big White / Silver Star the last 2 years and loved it. CATHY, seeing those photo's has made me come over all 'emotional' wink but we must sever the umbilical cord one day so this year its Winter Park / Copper snowHead Anyone visiting Big White MUST spend some time at Silver Star, which IMHO is even better. Smaller village, less people ( if that's possible) and now the Silver Woods area is open, more varied terrain. Remember the 'Dark side' of Putnam Creek Shocked Great choice for a 2 week break, a week in each.
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excitableboy, oooh - don't you get excitable! wink Well done for managing to break free Toofy Grin This'll probably be our last year - too expensive! Plus, lots of other places to visit snowHead
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Another big fan of Big White. My wife and I go there every year!!!

When you choose the connecting flights, use Westjet instead of Air Canada or Tango. Westjet uses Boing 737 but the other 2 uses very small planes (48 seats, propeller driven!!). It is impossible to accomodate all the luggage and skies in the same plane so if you are the unlucky one, your bags will left behind. Once my luggage was delayed for nearly one day. The resort bus driver told me that this is a common problem during the high season.

If you fly from Europe I thing it is a good idea to transit in Toronto. Westjet had daily flights to Kelowna and Air Canada also have one direct flight on Friday (with bigger planes).

Hope this info might help.
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Thanks Skimak, very useful advice. I'll check out Westjet next time.

There's quite a lot of choice for the connecting airport eg. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle
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uktrailmonster, If you are connecting from Vancouver or Calgary, Westjet connection is available. I am not sure about Edmonton. If you connects from Seattle I think you have to use Alaskan.

I always dress in ski closing and carry your boots because I must use Aircanada (using my Aeroplan points) . If something happens to my luggage I still can ski in the morning.!!!
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Yeah, I always hand carry my boots out too and then pack them in the main luggage on the way home! I can tolerate renting pretty much everything apart from boots if the hold luggage goes awol
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[quote="cathy"]excitableboy, oooh - don't you get excitable! wink Well done for managing to break free Toofy Grin This'll probably be our last year - too expensive! Plus, lots of other places to visit snowHead[/quote]

Ah yes , so many places yet sooooo little time Sad Enjoy BW , have a Gunbarrel Coffee for us. snowHead
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uktrailmonster wrote:
RobW, how do you rate Big White compared to Silver Star and Sun Peaks? They're both high on my hitlist of places to visit in the near future.


UTM, sorry about the delay in replying, but been a little busy....

We like both BW and SS. The fact that they are owned by the same company means that if you are doing a week in each then a season pass bought prior to September saves a large amount of money. BW certainly has more terrain, and you can get seriously lost in some of the woods (snowboarder died whilst skiing alone off Gem Lake a few years ago whilst we were there), but SS has more stupidly challenging runs over Putnam Creek: okay they aren't massively long, but I challenge anyone to do loops on them for a few hours without needing to stop for a rest Toofy Grin

SS's expansion into Silver Woods last season was something they've talked about for years. We (and many of the locals we know) were surprised at how challenging many of the runs are.

It's a long time since we've been to Sun Peaks: Morrissey wasn't open then, so the skiing seemed a limited, and if we'd been looking for an Austrian village, we'd have gone to Austria - not Canada!

We won't be in Canada this year at all: SWMBO is expecting right in the middle of the ski season (cr*p planning or what!), but next year will definately see us back there again - if the rumours of direct flights from UK into Kelowna are actually realised then I think there'll be a lot more brits around than we've been used to in the past.
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have been to Canada a few times but only to the three main touristy resorts (whistler/tremblant/lake Louise)which were all great in their own ways.but we are already planning next years trip to canada i really fancied fernie but all this talk of big white has got me thinking is it possible to do both or may more resorts in a 16 day trip
flying to toronto sounds good as we try and depart direct from manchester
any suggestions would be great


cathy those pictures sure make me miss canada Smile
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p.s everyone should try nightskiing once as there is something special about skiing in the silent dark snow Toofy Grin
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RobW wrote:
uktrailmonster wrote:
RobW, how do you rate Big White compared to Silver Star and Sun Peaks? They're both high on my hitlist of places to visit in the near future.


UTM, sorry about the delay in replying, but been a little busy....

We like both BW and SS. The fact that they are owned by the same company means that if you are doing a week in each then a season pass bought prior to September saves a large amount of money. BW certainly has more terrain, and you can get seriously lost in some of the woods (snowboarder died whilst skiing alone off Gem Lake a few years ago whilst we were there), but SS has more stupidly challenging runs over Putnam Creek: okay they aren't massively long, but I challenge anyone to do loops on them for a few hours without needing to stop for a rest Toofy Grin

SS's expansion into Silver Woods last season was something they've talked about for years. We (and many of the locals we know) were surprised at how challenging many of the runs are.

It's a long time since we've been to Sun Peaks: Morrissey wasn't open then, so the skiing seemed a limited, and if we'd been looking for an Austrian village, we'd have gone to Austria - not Canada!

We won't be in Canada this year at all: SWMBO is expecting right in the middle of the ski season (cr*p planning or what!), but next year will definately see us back there again - if the rumours of direct flights from UK into Kelowna are actually realised then I think there'll be a lot more brits around than we've been used to in the past.


Nice review. I skied at SS last Saturday. To be honest I wasn't expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised. Judging from the village which is cheesier than a Swiss dairy I was expecting groomed family cruising but spent the day lapping the backside chair (about 16 times!) which had plenty of steep fall line runs (very) challenging moguls and a good few inches of fresh to enjoy. The only disappointing aspect was that the woods are very dense so ordinary tree skiing was out of the question but according to a local guy the trees are being decimated by "bug kill" so more glading may take place in the near future. Talk of up to 7 new lifts too.

Overall I'd compare it to somewhere like Northstar or Keystone, similar feel, spread out over several hills with some nuisance "commutes", all below treeline, but maybe with more advanced terrain.
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Neilski wrote:
have been to Canada a few times but only to the three main touristy resorts (whistler/tremblant/lake Louise)which were all great in their own ways.but we are already planning next years trip to canada i really fancied fernie but all this talk of big white has got me thinking is it possible to do both or may more resorts in a 16 day trip
flying to toronto sounds good as we try and depart direct from manchester
any suggestions would be great


cathy those pictures sure make me miss canada Smile


I think it's possible to do Big White and Fernie in one trip, but it makes more sense to do Big White + Silver Star as they're less than 2 hours apart on the road. Fernie is considerably further away. You could even do BW + SS + Sun Peaks, but it might be spreading yourself a bit thin!

I've done a few of the bigger more well known Canadian resorts too (ie Whistler, Lake Louise) and really enjoyed them, but couldn't help thinking I was taking the easy "punters" option. So this year we decided to think slightly outside the box and try Big White. Hardly a Brit in sight! (Not that I don't like Brits, but I go on holiday to take a short break from them)
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RobW, thanks for the reply - much appreciated. Silver Star sounds great, so I'll be popping over there in March Smile
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uktrailmonster thanks for info looks like big white/ss is the way for me next year i have started looking into it already Very Happy
we are going to ischgl this year not to many brits there either from what i hear Toofy Grin
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Neilski, Sun Peaks is not too far away and the resort lays on a twice weekly minibus to pick up from Big White & Silver Star to take you to Sun Peaks. About 3 hours including a stop. We didn't go to Silver Star last year but will definitely have a day there this year.
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Morning all, 2 years back we did a trip to Whistler, on to Sun Peaks and then Big White over 2.5 weeks ending up back in Vancouver. Very cool, but don't underestimate the distance involved. It's about 5-6 hours on the road between each place (weather permitting) but the journeys were fantastic and scenery incredible. That was always part of the plan...

Resort-wise, we all know about Whistler, fantastic terrain, buzzing village and very touristy but we loved it!

Sun Peaks, very "hick" and locally which made it pretty special but the ski-ing/boarding is limited. But It's what we wanted after hammering all over Whistler-Blackcomb the week before! Big White, very limited resort centre, a bit toytown but ski-ing was great despite some rare poor snow conditions! We did get a fresh dump of powder on the last day though which was beautiful!!! Also you always have Snowshoe Sams for that monster chilli burger and a beer after a good day on the hill!

Just travel and remember that driving in Canada is NOTHING like driving in the UK or even Europe..we saw about 5 vehicles on the main road to Sun Peaks from Whistler once we got away from the outlying villages and maybe flashed our lights at a few logging trucks!

Going back next month to get some more as we now have friends living in Kelowna and Whistler snowHead !!!!
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